Status Updates From Understanding Genesis (The ...

I feel like I’m missing something fundamental with some of these books. They flip from arguing that something has historical basis, to discussing the theological importance of an event, to pointing out a literary aspect of something which isn’t historical.

They don’t discuss what foundations of belief underpin their argument, or what form of belief they’re arguing for. Alter and Kugel however do this better.

Sometimes he uses archaeology or ancient historiography to argue that the biblical texts must have elements of truth. Love this! Then he belabours a painful analysis of ages of the patriarchs and matriarchs to triumphantly declare that these ages are purely symbolic. There is something grating about this attempt to prove piece by piece, when it could be Occamish to argue for the simplicity of the unknowable.

Great